HUMAN RIGHTS IN YEMEN

Motion Text

That this House notes with concern that human rights violations continue to occur in the Yemen despite Amnesty International's report of 27th March 1997 which documented cases of the arbitrary arrest and detention of political prisoners, unfair trial and torture; notes with deep concern that no effective measures have yet been put into practice in response to Amnesty's submission, and that little progress has been made with regard to the declaration of an amnesty for political opponents or compensation of those who lost property in the conflict in Yemen; condemns the restrictions of freedom of speech and press freedom, and is deeply concerned at the banning for six months of the newspaper al-Shura, and the arrest and sentencing of the journalists Abdul Jabbar Saad and Abdullah Saad; and calls on the Government to apply pressure on the authorities in the Republic of Yemen to abide by UN Resolutions 924 and 931, to safeguard fundamental human rights, and to seek national reconciliation, with particular reference to the consequences of the Yemen Civil War of 1994, including the restitution of the confiscated property and the right of exiles to return safely.